44 “‘Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. 45 You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. 46 You can bequeath them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.

That book and it's associated belief system is a sophisticated means of social control which has been successful for several centuries, largely due to the majority of the planet's populous being poorly educated, and therefore superstitious.

You can attribute many different meanings to any passage you might choose from it.

You don't need anybody of any particular ethnicity, or religious persuasion to explain this to you.

you can enslave a heathen and make them your property but you cant enslave your own people and treat them like shit????? but you are taking the trolling to another level lol! slavery has been a part of life from the beginning!

You realize you quoted Leviticus right? Thats the old testament. The covenant made with the Israelites. Christians follow the teachings of Christ which is the new covenant.

The old testament for Christians is more like backstory. You have to have the context of the old covenant to understand how the new covenant differs from it. Christians aren't expected to follow the old testament.

Nice try to poke holes in Christianity but it looks like you don't know enough the bible to make a decent point

You realize you quoted Leviticus right? Thats the old testament. The covenant made with the Israelites. Christians follow the teachings of Christ which is the new covenant.

The old testament for Christians is more like backstory. You have to have the context of the old covenant to understand how the new covenant differs from it. Christians aren't expected to follow the old testament.

Nice try to poke holes in Christianity but it looks like you don't know enough the bible to make a decent point

That book and it's associated belief system is a sophisticated means of social control which has been successful for several centuries, largely due to the majority of the planet's populous being poorly educated, and therefore superstitious.

You can attribute many different meanings to any passage you might choose from it.

You don't need anybody of any particular ethnicity, or religious persuasion to explain this to you.

Fucking excellent trolling though, props!

It's amazing to look at the western approach to life vs the eastern. I could not write a paper in it, but the Christian view is filled with pain, struggle and violence. The eastern, be it Buddhist, Hindu etc, not so much. In turn, their people are generally in my mind in tune with nature, less combative and more happy.

The bible burns my eyes when I have tried to read it. Far too intense. I prefer the philosophies of the Tao Teh Ching.

In turn, their people are generally in my mind in tune with nature, less combative and more happy.

the East is less combative?

haha, i'm not taking sides here...but aren't India and Pakistan, North and South Korea, and several other countries over in the Asian continent either on the verge of war or currently engaged in small pockets of conflict with each other? maybe the philosophies of Eastern religions preach peace and happiness, but there sure are quite a few insurgents taking those ideas to mean "saw heads off of non-believers"...tl;dr the world and its people are equally shitty no matter where you come from, lol.

It's amazing to look at the western approach to life vs the eastern. I could not write a paper in it, but the Christian view is filled with pain, struggle and violence. The eastern, be it Buddhist, Hindu etc, not so much. In turn, their people are generally in my mind in tune with nature, less combative and more happy.

The bible burns my eyes when I have tried to read it. Far too intense. I prefer the philosophies of the Tao Teh Ching.

haha, i'm not taking sides here...but aren't India and Pakistan, North and South Korea, and several other countries over in the Asian continent either on the verge of war or currently engaged in small pockets of conflict with each other? maybe the philosophies of Eastern religions preach peace and happiness, but there sure are quite a few insurgents taking those ideas to mean "saw heads off of non-believers"...tl;dr the world and its people are equally shitty no matter where you come from, lol.

Well, all of those countries have kind of been fucked with by the west. Pakistan and India used to be one country who lived in relative peace with Hindus and Muslims, then the British kind of stirred the pot and over saw the creation of Pakistan. Ever since, tensions have been high.

Same with North and South Korea. America basically created the south as a way to prevent the spread of communism. Scary stuff communism. Anyhow.

mmm, 2013 and we're still locked in cycles of belief, I thought Buddhism was pretty chilled, until I realized they got their own spin on it all, dressed in so called peace. You basically have to keep reincarnating until your perfect, but nothing is perfect in a 3D apparently physical world, so I guess we're stuck on that wheel of life logo, they got the same circle with a cross like every religion like to have. Genesis is the biggest joke going, it's genetic cloning, split the word up into Gene Isis, then reverse it to Isis gene, basically says sister gene, now re-read the bible as if it's an alien invasion news-book with plans decided and implemented years ago. Forget all the so called Iconic characters and look at the truth, or rather hunt for it. Am I the only one to notice since the earth was broken up, that is exactly what they want keep us divided, keep as separate keep us arguing via opinion, based on information all ready tampered and fiddled with. Talking of Isis, that is who we see all the time holding the flame high at the beginning of films, made into statues of liberty, on the front of a star-bucks coffee cup, who's mentioned in the bible, Oooh funny how that stuff connects, but it is all bollocks, as I'm sure they would of mentioned all of this in school, they do an incredible job of shutting down children's minds, and turning us into cogs to keep this machine ticking over, so I'm sure they would of told us the truth.

Seriously, if there was a Grand designer of all this then they need to go to art school, I'm bored, why can't I ride a cloud, why can't the sea be like purple and blue. The more I look at this as a construct we're stuck in I can see a lot of us would build reality a lot nicer, calmer. Lets face it this is practically hell as it stands at the moment. If we keep it basic like Planet Earth, Us, Home, it's a bit easier than cults, Sorry!! religions, races ( we're all human I thought ) countries ( decided on land mass broken up, and by who ? ). So to cap off the Bible which contains the word lie it also is, an Exo-political book, with the plot, woven into occult symbolism, so you will keep reading about a white bloke that was a carpenter in Jerusalum, who got 12 followers eventually, and did street magic, Oh so does every other religion have 12 followers, and one leader, it's like they want to brainwash us ...................Shit!!!..........they have!!!

So to cap off the Bible which contains the word lie it also is, an Exo-political book, with the plot, woven into occult symbolism, so you will keep reading about a white bloke that was a carpenter in Jerusalum, who got 12 followers eventually, and did street magic, Oh so does every other religion have 12 followers, and one leader, it's like they want to brainwash us ...................Shit!!!..........they have!!!

Its ok. Across the pond over here, King James is believed to be a black bloke. Who reads anyway?

Oh that's right--awesome older and wiser black folk. It takes age and discipline to have hope and faith. Some of these tales are lost on the youth. Religion does not kill as far as I know...I am sure there are others. But lack of religion will kill empires.

The truth is just as much about diminishing knowledge (wisdom) as it is about accumulating knowledge (intellect). The truth always seems to be something people set off to go look for, but the ironic thing is they never find it until they quit looking. Like where did I leave my drink at? Even funnier, the truth about enlightenment is there is no such thing. Enlightenment is only obtained when a person realizes there is nothing to obtain and they always were enlightened. Thus the quest ceases when it is realized that emptiness is the highest fullness.

And no words written on dead trees are organic enough to teach you how to live a human life. But does that mean they are completely useless? Of course not, if only you realize a hammer is for bashing, a saw is for cutting, and a nail is for binding. Sounds simple, but many people try binding things with hammers, cutting things with nails, and bashing things with saws. And the shit don't work even though they are all tools, with different purposes intended. So, if religion is used as a tool to create fear and control, it will do it destructively. If it is used as a tool to better one's self, then it will do it creatively.

Even though I don't follow any one particular religion, I have come a long way from bashing all of them and now I find a little usefulness in most all of them. Especially in this one Taoist or Zen writing that said...

"When there is no God, there will be nothing but God."

This means -- Everything in existence and non-existence, including you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, and all the you's and I's and me's, and everything thing you have ever known, touched, tasted, smelled, seen, heard, experienced, created and destroyed are all inseperable and collectively God.

Quit fronting, fuckers.

I thought Buddhism was pretty chilled, until I realized they got their own spin on it all

Guns are inanimate objects. Religion is an institution of thinking which can be used to brainwash and control people and in some cases as seen above help create a mindset that leads to violence and war.

while i would say i am a spiritual person, i dont follow one set of beliefs or buy into a white bearded zeus dude draped in linen gently plucking a harp on top of the clouds. i think whatever force is out there is far more complex than we can imagine. theres radicals in any belief system. but, the morals and teachings, if used in a positive way, are there to help people lead better lives.

joseph campbell was a really smart dude and explains religions and the power of myth in a humbling, non-biased way. he doesnt lean toward any one religion but rather a monomyth (ala finnegans wake)

Moyers: Unlike heroes such as Prometheus or Jesus, we're not going on our journey to save the world but to save ourselves.Campbell: But in doing that you save the world. The influence of a vital person vitalizes, there's no doubt about it. The world without spirit is a wasteland. People have the notion of saving the world by shifting things around, changing the rules, and who's on top, and so forth. No, no! Any world is a valid world if it's alive. The thing to do is to bring life to it, and the only way to do that is to find in your own case where the life is and become alive yourself.

How many crazy atheist murderers or wars have you heard of?Here are a few examples of religion leading to violence/death:

I can only respond to Christianity and the various media depictions, personally. There is good and bad--and part of the religion or coming to know God is knowing your enemies--knowing those that dress themselves up as Christians--but are not.

Everyone is entitled to hold beliefs of their own--a study of this religion can consume a lifetime--but, there are different factions of any given religion and not just one group.